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Thirty covers by Jacques Touchet for the French magazine Ridendo, c. 1934–40
Jan 1939 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
This is guest post by illustrator Jérôme Dubois, who recently came into a big collection of old magazines which he is lovingly scanning and preserving. Here's what he has learned about Ridendo:
Ridendo (derived from the French verb 'rire,' to laugh) was a medical and humor magazine distributed to French physicians from 1933 to 1977, reaching around 450 issues. The first 139 covers were made by illustrator and commercial artist Jacques Touchet (who also published several books in the early fifties, and worked with another french magazine called L'illustration). The covers always picture a physician along with a sympatethic version of Esculape, Latin god of medicine.
The magazine's main content was jokes and cartoons about medicine and medical life, often even drawn by physicians themselves (making most of them really hard to understand). The covers tend to be a good representation of France's cultural life over the years, from medical exams to national celebrations, or even war.
See an article and slideshow about Ridendo on Design Observer. A French website includes smaller scans of most of the covers.
June 1936 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
October 1938 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
Nov. 1937 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
June 1939 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
March 1936 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
detail
February 1936 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
April 1939 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
detail
October 1937 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
detail
February 1937 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
May 1937 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
April 1937 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
October 1934 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
December 1936 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
January 1939 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
June 1936 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
April 1940 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
May 1940 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
June 1938 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
Nov. 1938 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
May 1938 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
detail
February 1939 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
detail
May 1939 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
July 1936 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
July 1939 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
July 1938 Ridendo, from the collection of Jérôme Dubois
Jérôme would like to thank Laurie for her help and patience. I would like to thank both Jérôme and Laurie!
